A touch-sensitive display or screen of an electronic device provides a graphical user interface that enables user control of the electronic device. Control is determined from either the relationship between one or more touch positions on the display and static images displayed on the display, or from motion of the touch position that may be recognized as a gesture. A problem with this approach is that a virtual button presented on the user interface may be pressed accidentally or unintentionally. One attempted solution is to require a sequence of buttons to be pressed, such as by typing a password or number on a virtual keypad. However, after repeated use, such an unlocking action may become automatic and still allow accidental activation of a user control of the device. In addition, unlocking the device must be performed as an additional step, so that to launch an application on a smart phone, for example, the phone must first be unlocked and then the application must be selected.
It would be useful to provide an improved user interface that prevents accidental, unintended or careless control of an electronic device having a touch-sensitive display. Further, it would be useful to provide a means for unlocking a device and activating device operation in a single step.